It is June 2020, and a coronavirus has killed 300,000 people worldwide and 68,000 people in the United States. For the U.S., these numbers, although anyone dying is a loss, the numbers are nowhere near the initial CDC projections of 214 million infected, 21 million people in hospitals, and 1.7 million dying.
The U.S. population is basically under house arrest (quarantine is what you do with sick people or sick animals).
Some governors and mayors want to continue the lock down, fearing that the disease may ramp up greatly if people are allowed to go back to work too soon (The mayor of Los Angeles wants to keep the lock down going through August or until there is a cure). They point to some experts indicating that if they go back to work, they will have a rebound number equal to the initial projections.
Other governors and mayors want to reopen their states and cities for business, indicating that the projections were so far off and that the consequences were not as nearly as dire as projected. They point to the fact that every year ~ 80,000 people die from the normal flu, and that sustained record unemployment and the U.S. economy will be unrecoverable.
Describe the ethical considerations in the decision-making process for both sides of the argument.
